Fake cops ambush El Socorro contractor

Shane Su­perville

A 43-year-old El So­cor­ro con­trac­tor nar­row­ly es­caped death or se­ri­ous in­jury af­ter flee­ing two gun­men who wait­ed in am­bush out­side his home on Thurs­day morn­ing.

Po­lice said the man was sit­ting in his white Hon­da Vezel out­side his home on Hin­goo Ter­race around 6.25 am when two gun­men ex­it­ed a sil­ver Nis­san Ti­i­da parked near­by.

The men were wear­ing black tac­ti­cal jack­ets and trousers and green re­flec­tive vests marked “Po­lice.”

The at­tack­ers opened fire, prompt­ing the con­trac­tor to run from the ve­hi­cle and hide in near­by bush­es. The gun­men then re­turned to their car and drove off.

Around 4.14 pm, of­fi­cers of the North East­ern Di­vi­sion Emer­gency Re­sponse Pa­trol (ERP) were called to an area where they found a sil­ver Nis­san Ti­i­da be­lieved to be the get­away ve­hi­cle.

Po­lice said the car had a fake li­cence plate fixed over the orig­i­nal plate.

In­ves­ti­ga­tors al­so found a re­flec­tive vest and a long-sleeved safe­ty vest in­side the ve­hi­cle.

The car was towed to the Barataria Po­lice Sta­tion for fur­ther en­quiries.

In­ves­ti­ga­tors said 13 spent 9 mm shells were re­cov­ered at the scene.